Overview
This document is a continuously-updated field guide to interacting and working with me in a professional capacity. Read more about my approach (and motivation) for Personal User Guides, or just ↓ jump right in ↓.
Professional User Guide for Michael E. Gruen
(v.2024-06-public)
This version is compiled for public distribution; team-specific guides supersede the following and live in an internal System of Record.
Summary Details
| key | value |
|---|---|
| Role | Founder, Fractional CEO/CTO, Author |
| Endpoints | This is where work e-mails, phones, and @-aliases go. |
| Aliases | "Michael", "Gruen", "MG" (Pronounced "Em-Gee") |
| Manufacture | Englewood, NJ. |
| Domicile | New York, NY & Block Island, RI. |
| Human Languages | English |
| Personality Tests |
"All models are wrong, some are useful."
|
| Personal Website | michaelgruen.com (You are here) |
Table of Contents
- Preferred Working Style
- Communications
- Work Philosophies and Style
- Professional Characteristics
- Request for Comment
Preferred Working Style
Space
I thrive in two diametrically-opposed environments:
- Hermetically-sealed boxes (sound-proofed offices with doors)
- Total bustle (cafés, Airport terminals, etc.)
Everything else is a shade of terrible.
When in flow-states my sensorium is easily disrupted—open office plans are productivity death. Distraction vectors in decreasing order of severity: auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, then gustatory.
The din of a busy room (say, a café) usually provides sufficient white-noise to maintain focus, but it is far less preferable to total environmental control.
It should surprise you not that my computer and phone are almost always set to “Do Not Disturb”. On that, I am still on the hunt for smart Andon to ensure interruptions are well-justified and, well, noticed. Suggestions welcome.
Structure
Time-blocking is life.
I do not maintain a to-do list as important tasks are scheduled. My first question, if something cannot be answered or done immediately, will be “when do you need it?” and if the answer is “soon” I will offer a specific time and hold myself to it.
“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
— Lorne Michaels via Tina Fey regarding SNL
General working hours: 08:30–17:00 Monday through Thursday, Eastern time zone, ebbing with the sunrise. Fridays I leave unstructured and meeting-free whenever possible. I’ll work late if on a roll and work early when excitable.
During scheduled time-blocks, I am generally slow to respond as I am:
- doing deep work
- in a meeting, interview, or other face-to-face exchange
- napping
- out of the office (attending a conference, meeting with customers, on PTO, etc.)
Outside of working hours, I do not reliably check e-mail.
Most weeks look like this:
- Mondays and Tuesdays are
meetingdays.- Recurring meetings are scheduled Tuesdays to avoid the entirely-avoidable “Monday’s a holiday week so now I’m double-booked today and tomorrow” rigmarole. It’s madness.
- Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically
deep workdays- Long-format (90+ minute) recurring meetings are generally scheduled for Wednesday afternoons (fortnightly) and Thursday mornings (monthly).
- Fridays are protected and unstructured.
Week-to-week, effort varies.
For startups and scale-ups, work is not quite a marathon, not quite a sprint. I find that crits best describe the metaphor I’m going for here. (I used to race bicycles.)
Toolkit
See Professional Toolkit.
Communications
The medium is the message. — Marshall McLuhan
How should I reach out?
(The following grid is meant for my teams, republished here. If you’re reading this and not actively working with me in another System of Record, e-mail is your best bet.)
| Importance ↓ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Urgency ↓ | Low | Medium | High |
| Low | Don't | Slack | |
| Medium | Slack | ||
| High | Slack | Whatever means necessary | |
Synchronous Channels
Calendar Use
If I’ve furnished you with a calendar link, it will work around existing commitments and availability. (Link available upon request.)
- Please book the shortest meeting length that is comfortable and un-rushed. Experience says 25 minutes is appropriate for most things, 50 minutes for longer topics, and 100 minutes for in-depth discussion / exploration. When in doubt, schedule 25 minutes.
- I maintain daily working hours in Google Calendar and leave my work computer at the office. (Unless traveling, of course.)
- Promptness
- Socially, I am always on-time and usually the first to arrive at parties.
- Professionally, circumstances sometimes keep me from being punctual. The probability I’m late in inversely correlated to how many people I’m meeting with. I try my damnedest not to be tardy, but during the work day, sometimes my calendar is not my own. I am actively addressing this.
E-mails and DMs
DMs and e-mails are always open, but offer no SLA. I will respond if/when available regardless of whatever my status indicator flag says. (see § Asynchronous Channels for more.)
Phone calls and Text Messages
My phone is always on Do Not Disturb unless I’m expecting a call or am on-call for an incident response or emergency. Same goes with text messages.
I do not mind voicemails.
Asynchronous Channels
Meeting Pre-reads
I’m a big fan.
In general, I find “brainstorming” meetings more effective if they are discussions about thoughts previously articulated rather than done live. (Extensive research suggests this is a better approach than winging it.)
I’m action/outcome-oriented: Meeting goals > Agendas.
Note: I have a longer piece on meetings philosophy queued to be written. Will link here when completed.
Inboxes
Observations on my inbox (e-mail and DM) behaviors:
- Messages that need more than 15 seconds to compose a response are flagged for followup.
- Of those flagged:
- ~20% are redirected (forwarded, delegated, etc.)
- ~20% are returned within 24 hours
- ~15% are returned within 10 business days
- <1% are held on to for future use
- Everything else is read and/or ignored
I greatly prefer all official and project communication to exist in a System of Record.
Style
I am direct, often to a fault, and tend to speed-run niceties in favor of getting down to business. I will forget to ask, “How are you?” because I’m more focused on the subject matter. (I very much do, in fact, care about how you are doing!)
On that, I am a non-reactive active listener. I focus on what people are telling me and digest information before responding, especially if it’s important. Throughout my life I’ve received feedback that this can make me “difficult to read”. Despite this, I am a squarely average poker player.
I tend to repeat myself. I do this to show consistency and to ensure that the message is getting through. If I’m repeating myself to the point of annoyance, do point this out as it’ll signal to me that you’ve gotten the message. (I might still repeat myself, but less frequently.)
If I’ve contradicted myself, please point that out. I may have changed my position and forgot to tell you. (Sorry!)
I often choose $10 words when 30¢ ones will do. (Verily, eschewing grandiose verbiage remains a challen— ahem… er, uh I mean to say, “I’m working on it.”)
Work Philosophies and Style
My work demeanor hews advisor, teacher, and coach.
Decisions
Decisions should be made at the commensurate level of responsibility and ownership.
I tend to decide at the last responsible moment. Sometimes it’s also the last possible moment, but not often. I don’t subscribe to any specific decision-making framework, but they have their uses.
My decisions often include a tacit confidence interval. Depending on how new information affects that confidence, decisions may be revised. This happens rarely.
I am (almost) always happy to unpack a decision upon request, assuming I’ve neglected to proactively do so.
Management
The best approximation I’ve found to my management style is Servant Leadership. My success (and how my efficacy should be measured) is the collective output of:
- my direct reporting line, and
- my adjacent teams.
As a member of the executive team, this means I (and the C-suite) am measured by the output of my department and its efficacy in driving company output. Down-line, I expect my direct reports to use the same measuring stick.
Outside of performance reviews, 1-on-1s take the following form:
- How is it going?
- How can I help?
- Here’s some context/some suggestions that I think may be helpful.
These 1-on-1s ensure my team has predictable and protected time on my calendar so I can help them be successful. To that end, I expect everyone on my team to own and drive the business within their scope.
Pet Peeves
A non-ordered list of things that ruffles my feathers, but not enough for me to say something in-situ.
- Using speakerphones on remote meetings. (Please use a good headset! Bluetooth 4.1+ with noise-cancelling mic preferred.)
- Multi-tasking.
- Don’t just say “hello” on Slacks/DMs.
- Kowtowing, brown nosing, etc.
- Breaking focused flow-state, interruptions for inconsequential topics. (Exception: if there’s an ice cream truck involved, I should always be interrupted.)
- Note that, particularly during longer conversations, topic threads can get messy, nested, and meta. We may find ourselves in digressions that, at the time, may seem like distractions but are, in fact, good practice. No, what I mean by breaking flow-state is when solo or with a group is when an outside influence (person) distracts us from our collective presence. While expected in social settings, it can be incredibly expensive during work sessions.
Delights
English needs an antonym for “Pet Peeve”. Until then, Delights it is.
- Showing up on-time. Being present. Getting right down to business.
- For communicating ideas: Document/Memo > E-mail > Meeting > DMs.
- Work queues and process documents—systems, even when loosely-described, are better than nothing. (Not necessarily true with data, however.)
- Using source data to describe state and demonstrate progress.
- Dates and timestamps. (Temporal context is often overlooked!)
- Elegant solutions to intractable problems.
Professional Characteristics
What I bring to the table.
Values
| value | description |
|---|---|
| Integrity | Internalize and exhibit strong principles, ethics, consistency, and accountability. |
| Responsibility | Know that decisions and actions affect others. Own the consequences. |
| Outcome oriented | Do not conflate activity with progress. |
| Data driven | Commit to an evidence-based lifestyle. (You can thank my wife for this turn of phrase.) |
| Transparency | Operate in the open. (Sunlight is the best disinfectant.) |
| Grit | Know when to be patient. |
| Growth | Seek abundance. See also: Developing a Growth Mindset - Dweck |
Known Strengths
| trait | description |
|---|---|
| Systems Thinker | My mind thrives in spaces described by this wikipedia article. I think in terms of ontologies and bit-order. |
| Agile and Flexible | Change isn’t mandatory, but it’s the only constant. There’s always room for improvement. |
| Articulate | I’ve been told I’m a strong communicator and decent presenter. |
| Perceptive | I listen good, too. |
| Leans Optimistic | Given the half-empty/half-full question, I’ll state the glass is at half-capacity and question its unrealized potential. |
| Does the work | I’ve learned to eat my vegetables. |
| Coachable | I take criticism, feedback, and suggestion well, with some caveats (see Known Weaknesses). |
Known Weaknesses
| trait | description |
|---|---|
| Vocal and Opinionated | Whether strongly- or weakly-held, stating impassioned opinions sometimes gets me into trouble. I can be vocal. (On the Hamilton/Burr continuum, I lean Alexander.) |
| Overclocked Metronome | I grew up in a land of fast-talkers, and I still struggle to talk at what most people consider a normal pace. On that, I still haven’t quite internalized distributed meeting audio delays and frequently step-on/interrupt other speakers. (Sorry about that!) |
| Default Autonomous | Unless advice or help is solicited, or is offered from a credible expert, I tend to bristle when being told what to do and how to do it. (Related in Strengths: Coachable.) |
| Easily Distracted | See also: § Preferred Working Style. |
| Repetitive Taskwork | Filling out forms, particularly when redundant, and especially with personally-identifiable information, is pure punishment—and the result of years of bad karma in failing to automate these systems. I’ll do them (see strength: Does the work), but it comes at the expense of later productivity and/or willpower. See also: The Myth of Sisyphus. |
| I don’t like being wrong | Please correct me! I will likely admonish myself, but it’s far preferable than being wrong forever. Or it’ll end up in this list. |
Blind Spots
In 2006, I added a Johari window to my AOL Instant Messager profile and, as was typical those days, people were more than happy to say what they thought of me—anonymously or not. It was super-helpful in identifying blind spots.
51% of people agree that Gruen is confident
Shortly afterwards, I added a Nohari window, which prompts for faults, not talents. It was equally instructive.
58% of people think that Gruen is boastful
75% of people think that Gruen is smug
I’m hoping in the decade (or so) since running that survey that I have evolved. I still have work to do. Please call me out on them as I, by definition, can lack self-awareness here. (Hence, a blind spot.)
Request for Comment
If you have any addenda you think I should add to this guide, do please let me know—I am always looking to improve.
EOF